Warren Buffett on business motivation

As a practical matter, we need management with the businesses that we buy.  And 3 times out of 4, or thereabouts, the manager is the owner and is receiving tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars.  So they don't have to work.  And we have to decide in that time when we meet them whether they love the business or love money.  We're not making a moral judgment... but it's very important for me to know which of the two is the primary motivator with them.  And we have had extremely good luck in identifying people who love their business.

So all we have to do is avoid anything on our part that diminishes that love of the business or makes other conditions so intolerable that they overcome that love that love of the business.  We have a number of people working for us that have no financial need to work at all and they probably outwork 95% or more of the people in the world, and they do it because they love smacking the ball.

~ Warren Buffett, "Why I Fire People Every Day - Warren Buffett," YouTube, 0:20 mark, November 16, 2021